Without doubt, Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice is the most Gothic comic book film since Alex Proyas’ The Crow with Brandon Lee. However, Batman V. Superman (B vs. S) is something very different than The Crow. The Crow was intended to be just one film, and future films almost destroyed the incredible work they’d done in that original, whereas B vs. S is designed to be the second film in the DC Universe and open the way to a ton of new films.

So you’ve now seen Batman v. Superman (B vs. S) and, if you’re like me, have a lot of concepts swirling around in your head. For regular readers of DarkestGoth, I’m going to assume that one of the thoughts swirling in your head was NOT that “this movie is too dark.” Unrelenting and deep? Yes. Confusing and dense? Maybe. Too dark? No. Arranged loosely in order of appearance in the film are my 12 theories on this film, some of which will hopefully give you new reasons to enjoy and respect this impressive film that’s been getting a lot of hatred. [WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD]

Like a lot of people, I’m very excited about the new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens. Also like a lot of us, our experience with Star Wars is bittersweet.

I remember being around 8 years old when an uncle of mine showed me Star Wars for the first time on VHS and I was hooked. When I visited my aunt and uncles in Paris, France when I was 16 for a month, I grew so homesick and the only English movie they had to watch was Star Wars–and it reminded me of what I loved about the fantasy adventure there.

For those of us who love comics, the announcement that Marvel TV inked a four franchise deal with Netflix in 2013 to take some of their grittier properties and make TV shows out of them was a little confusing. Obviously, Rated R properties have no place in Marvel Studios new cinematic feature film universe which is decidedly PG-13, but would the Netflix shows be cheap, hokey takeoffs on these Marvel properties? (After all, Marvel TV’s own Agents of Shield on ABC has been hemorrhaging fans since its creation.)

Although it makes it’s big screen debut in 2014, I discovered the world of the deadly mirror through Mike Flanagan’s short film, Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan, when he submitted it to our sister filmmaking site, MicroFilmmaker Magazine, in 2006. A 30 minute film created in a single room with a single actor for $2,000 swept you into a mystical embrace of powerful storytelling and seriously thrilling scares. The short film got a 9.5 from the critic that saw it, while…